Blog Comments & Posts

At the end of 2008 I finished up as an inhouse SEO to volunteer for a HIV/AIDS organization in Papua New Guinea.

SO…..

I started a two-year post as a project officer with the largest locally run HIV/AIDS organization in Papua New Guinea. We run prevention programs, distribute condoms, test for HIV, screen for STI’s and provide care for people living with HIV Aids (at every stage of their illness)

It wasn’t easy…although it was the kind of job you embrace with a passion!

BUT…….

The Aussie Dollar fell spectacularly…which meant that our funding was cut by 25%...which meant that we had to slash programs and tell staff to stay home…which means that we are doing less at a time when HIV infection rates are going through the roof.

SO…….

We set out to find the money ourselves. We figured that some smart SEO and some targeted marketing would help us claw back a little bit of the deficit (we know it’s a tough gig, so aren’t pinning too many hope on it, but every bit helps right?)

BUT……

I discovered that internet speeds in PNG make dial-up seem blindingly fast (which is like doing SEO with two hands tied behind your back)

And….

It costs more than you want to imagine ($60AUD for 100 megabytes) (which is like doing SEO with two hands tied behind your back blind-folded)

SO…….

The time we spend online has to be as focused as possible (limiting the ability to research)

SO……

A SeoMoz Pro membership would:

1) Level the playing field (allowing me to compete a little more effectively from one of the least internet connected countries in the world)

2) Help fill the gap in our funding – allowing us to restart some of the programs

3) Eventually make a difference to one of the largest Pacific Island Countries at a critical time to halt the spread of HIV

We tried a similar technique on our site. Despite getting a lawyer to sign off after the first threatening letter, the competitor in question escalated it very quickly. Knowing your threshold of risk before you venture into the murky waters of comparative advertising is always useful!

I have to admit that I used to think long-form sales letters were a central spoke on the axis of evil internet marketing. When I first started using Clickbank I used to eliminate products sight unseen simply for using a sales letter on their pitch page (that is until I realised that would leave me with a whole....two products)

This might be jumping the gun for part 2 - but the big differentiators for me in terms of your page were:

The use of humour

Formatting and design (including the SEO-Moz design in that statement)

Particularly with the last element - it was actually the fact that it was nicely formatted and that it was embedded in a credible looking site that allowed me to lower my in-built mistrust of the form and actually appreciate the text.

Anyway - thought it was great - and certainly made me think about what I do.

To look at it from a slightly different perspective - we've had some good results recently by bidding on our bigger competitors branded names (suitably truncated to avoid the trade-mark filter)

For a number of people we weren't able to shift from above us in the search results - we created comparative review pages heavily optimised for their brand keywords. We then set up a ppc campaign with ad text telling people that they had to see the results when we tested our competitors product (which we did)

It's worked surprisingly well - and has given us a way to get our name in front of their customers when we don't have the leverage to do it organically.

I have no doubt that they will eventually catch on - and bump us off by bidding on their own keywords - but it's nice while it lasts :-)